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Table

late 19th century to early 20th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This hutch table imitates early 16th-century pieces of the same form, which combined a low table with a shallow cupboard, and used frame and panel construction. Various elements from old furniture have been combined with some newer (probably early 20th-century) woodwork, and anachronistic carving added to the surface. The market demand for Tudor furniture led to the production of a wide range of reproductions, restorations and fakes during the 19th and 20th centuries.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Oak, joined and carved
Brief description
Hutch table or counter, oak with carved panels, England, late 19th or early 20th century
Physical description
Low cupboard, with panelled front and wide central door (the aperture covered with a blind panel) and carved framework at the front.

The top which overhangs each end, of breadboard construction, consisting of two planks and end cleats, and shows evidence of one staple hinge along its rear edge. It is not clear how this is fixed to the framework. The frame of panelled construction front and back held by pegged tenon and mortice joints, on squared legs (all built up by 11cm with a buttress foot on the inner face), the joint between legs and front and rear rails rounded out and moulded. The carved front panels with traces of pigment (from left): a stylised plant (pomegranate?), shield with three fleur-de-lis of France above the initials RB, a fixed blank, shield with three fleur-de-lis of France above the initials RB, a Tudor rose. At each end a horizontal linenfold panel lacking any of the usual carved details at its ends. On the back three plain panels, held by a top rail (carved for mason's mitres), degraded, plain muntins, and a lower rail with stopped chamfer along its upper edge and moulded lower edge, with an empty mortice on its inside face. The rear legs (end face) and front legs (front and end faces) and front muntins are all carved with a stylised palmette. The front and side lower rails carved along their length with a repeated quatrefoil motif. The bottom with 7 front to back chamfered boards of softwood, supported by four angle blocks of the type usually seen under 18th century chair seats.
Dimensions
  • Width: 183cm
  • Height: 72cm
  • Depth: 60cm
  • Weight: 59.5kg
Credit line
Given by Alfred James
Object history
A gift from Alfred James, Esq., Edgeworth Manor, Cirencester.

From RP MA/1/J146
Museum memo 10/4/1919 to Oliver Bracket 'This is a genuine example of rare type of English furniture of the time of Henry VIII. The carving on the framework of the front & sides is of a later date than the rest of the table, but the carved panels are original.'

See also W.47-1910, which may be a restored 16th century object , or a 19th century concoction. Circ.49-1919 may have been created in imitation of W.47-1910.

Murray Adams-Acton ('Early Oak', The Connoisseur, June 1945) says (p.84) that early tables of this form and 'constructed in the solid' are very rare. 'As a rule they conform to almost identical size and formation, the top often in one piece, like a refectory table, oversailing the underframing by a few inches at either end; the fronts vary in design; as a rule it is the side panels (unlike the taller cupboards) - which form part of the structure, being immoveable, while that in the centre forms a door, of which the original hinges have seldom been preserved. ...beginning of the Sixteenth Century...mason's joints throughout and - what is typical to the majority - the rounded angle to the moulding on the lower framework where it unites with the front legs. Additional interest is provided by the linenfold being used on its side (an anachronism, of course, as it evolved from a hanging serviette) though the emphasis thus given to the horizontal line is far from displeasing....I have come across two specimens surmounted with Victorian additions...Personally - and I write with considered caution - I think that these low Henry VIII pierced side tables are the rarest of all survivals of English domestic furniture; on the Continent they have no counterpart."

Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture. The British Tradtion (Woodbridge, 1979) p.287 categorises such pieces as 'shallow panelled chests or cupboards (aumbries) with extended legs, and...not fitted with stretchers. The term 'counter' frequently appears in early inventories, and has been equated with this form of table; though usages of the word are so varied that it is difficult to draw any precise conclusions.'

RP 19/1439
Production
Incorporating earlier woodwork, some of which may be 16th or 17th century.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This hutch table imitates early 16th-century pieces of the same form, which combined a low table with a shallow cupboard, and used frame and panel construction. Various elements from old furniture have been combined with some newer (probably early 20th-century) woodwork, and anachronistic carving added to the surface. The market demand for Tudor furniture led to the production of a wide range of reproductions, restorations and fakes during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Associated object
W.47:1-1910 (Prototype)
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.49-1919

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Record createdNovember 30, 2006
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